A Mother's Love
by breakaway27
Summary: She's finally run away, just trying to survive on her own.  One night she finds herself running and then suddenly her ankle is broken, her hand is bleeding, and she has a mother giving her unconditional love.
1. Chapter 1

I pushed myself further. Why had I picked Forks, Washington? Why? I should have gone to Canada like I had originally planned.

"She's slowing down!" a voice behind me yelled.

Of course I was slowing down. I was half-human. My heart was pounding practically out of my chest and my lungs were piercing me with every breath I took. Why was I even trying to run from these vampires? If they killed me, I would not have to deal with the constant fear that my father would be the one to murder me.

One wrong step had my ankle snapping with a sickening crunch and, when I fell, my hand dug into a sharp rock on the ground. Blood covered my left hand within an instant.

The tears came before I could stop them. I felt eyes on me and when I looked up I was surrounded by eight golden-eyed vampires.

"Oh my God," a tall blonde whispered. She was breathtakingly beautiful.

A gentle looking woman with caramel colored locks carefully walked up to I, a blond man with compassionate eyes right at her side. "We won't hurt you," she said softly. "We made a mistake. We thought you were trying to harm our family."

"You aren't trying to harm our family, right?" a big, burly looking one asked.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't know there were others here!" I sobbed.

"Shh," the woman whispered. She sank to her knees next to me. "Don't cry, dear. What's your name?"

"Kaleigh," I mumbled.

She took the bright white scarf from her neck and before I had a chance to protest she was using it to stop the blood flow on my hand. "My name is Esme, and this is my husband Carlisle."

He bent down in front of me. "Do you mind?" He glanced at my hand and then back to my eyes.

"I can bandage it up when I get home," I said quietly. "I'll leave, I promise. Just please don't kill me."

"No one in my family will put a hand on you," Carlisle assured. He smiled at me. "I'm a doctor. I can take a look at your hand for you."

"I—." I didn't know what to say, so instead of rambling I nodded my head.

He took my hand from the woman's and looked it over. "Nothing a few stitches couldn't fix," he said.

"Carlisle, her ankle," a bronze haired man pointed out.

I realized that the other six vampires had gotten much, much closer.

"We won't hurt you," a little, pixie-like girl promised. She grinned. "I can't wait to take you shopping! Oh! Renesmee is going to love you!"

My eyes widened in shock. "You're the Cullen's," I said, a little louder than I had wanted to.

"The Volturi created her," the bronze haired man said. He looked at me with an apologetic smile. "My name is Edward."

I nodded slowly, and processed what he had said. "They didn't send me here," I said honestly. "I ran away."

Carlisle's cold hands ran over the cracked bones in my ankle. "You're going to need a cast, Kaleigh," he said. "Unless you heal quickly?"

I shook my head. "No, just a little faster than a human would." I brushed dirt off of my purple lace dress and gray leggings. "I won't linger in the area." I started to get up, but Esme pushed my shoulder down gently.

She looked at me knowingly. "Where is your family?" she asked.

"I don't have any. My mother died after giving birth to me, and Demetri didn't care for her. She was just an experiment for them." I looked down, willing the tears back. Why was I telling these people about my past? "I'm sorry. You all don't want to know about this. I'll be on my way."

She grimaced. "Come back to our home. Let Carlisle fix your ankle and hand. Then you can leave if you wish."

"I can't impose," I said, shaking my head.

She tied to scarf so it would stay tight without anyone holding it. "You look like you could use a hot meal too." She wiped away the last of my fallen tears. "Don't cry, sweetheart. Maybe you can meet Renesmee."

I vaguely remember having heard Aro and Caius talking about Renesmee.

Esme smiled at me. "I'm sure the both of you would love being able to talk to each other."

"It would be nice meeting someone like me," I admitted with a sad smile. "But I really can't—."

"Come with us, Kaleigh," she whispered. She was the embodiment of motherhood.

I took a deep breath and after I let it out I agreed.

Her eyes held a new spark now. "Do you mind if one of us carries you? Our home isn't too far, but I don't want you to hurt your ankle any more than you have."

"I guess so," I mumbled.


	2. Chapter 2

When I was done with the hot shower, I dried off quickly and carefully slipped off the make-shift "trash bag cast-cover". I looked around the bathroom I was standing in. The Cullen's really were rich. I had heard a few of the Volturi members mention it once, but I hadn't thought anything of it. Standing in Carlisle and Esme's grand bathroom had me literally standing in the middle of the truth.

After arriving at the Cullen's house, Carlisle had cleaned up my hand and stitched it, and painfully re-set my ankle. He had apologized profusely, and I simply waved him off. He wrapped up my foot, ankle, and a good portion of my calf in a deep purple colored cast.

Esme had led me to their bathroom then and set a pile of clothes on the counter. "These should fit," she had said. "You're taller than Nessie, but I don't think that will matter with these. If you need anything just call my name, dear."

And that brings me to my reflection staring back at me. The dark circles under my eyes looked worse than ever. They always sat beneath my eyes though, no matter how much sleep or nutrients I got. They didn't get better by drinking blood either. My wavy dark brown hair was growing back out now. It was a few inches past my shoulders; looking much healthier than the dead-end mess it had been months ago. I was tired, and my eyes showed that. They had gone from their bright blue state to a dull gray-blue.

You can sleep when you got back to the motel, I reminded myself.

I looked at the white long sleeved cotton dress and brown leggings Esme had set down in the bathroom. Sighing, I slipped on my underwear and bra before tugging on the dress and leggings. She had been right. Everything did fit.

A knock on the door broke me out of my trance. "Come in," I said.

It opened and Esme smiled at me. "You look beautiful," she said.

"Thank you," I said quietly.

She took my hand and led me into the attached bedroom. After pushing me softly to sit on the plush sofa in the corner she went over to a large dresser and grabbed a hair brush off of it. She returned, sitting behind me. Gently she pulled the brush through my damp locks.

"You're being too kind, Mrs. Cullen," I said.

She laughed. "You call me Esme, dear, and that's nonsense. How someone could ever abandon you is beyond me."

"Technically I abandoned him," I mumbled.

"I will never allow him to put a finger on you," she told me with a strong passion in her voice. "You are safe here, Kaleigh."

We were both quiet for a few minutes as she brushed my hair even though the knots had long since gone away.

I took a deep breath and then asked what I had been wondering all along. "Do you…. Your family, do they…."

"Whatever it is, you can ask me, dear," she encouraged.

"Do you drink human blood?" I mumbled. This had been one of the reasons the Volturi members had first started to regret ever creating me. I refused to drink human blood.

I could feel her shaking her head. "No, we drink animal blood. If you wanted to try we could teach you."

"I already do," I admitted quietly. "When I was born I….I didn't know any differently though. I don't know how many people had to die—." A few tears left my eyes before I could stop them.

Suddenly her arms were wrapped around my shoulders and she was hugging me. "It's not your fault. No one was there to teach you a different way."

"When everyone came back from their trip here, I could see how your family lived in some of their memories. That's when I started refusing the human blood they were giving me."

"You can read minds?" she asked with a small smile in her voice.

I turned slowly to face her and shook my head. "No. It's like the reverse of a psychic. I can't tell a person's future, but I can tell their past."

"Alice can tell the future," she said, wiping away tears on my cheeks with her thumbs.

"Really? Who….?"

She smiled at me. "She's the tiny one with black hair. Her husband, Jasper, is an empath."

"Controls emotions and knows what everyone is feeling, right?"

"Right. And Edward can read people's minds."

"And his wife is a shield."

She laughed, and just the sound alone made me smile. "Yes, Bella is."

"I listened a little too much to some of the conversations in Volterra," I admitted shyly.

"There is no problem in that. I'm sure it aided you in getting out safely."

I nodded, looking down at the cream carpet my left foot was resting on. "As soon as my clothes are done being cleaned, I will be on my way," I assured her. "I won't linger in the area, just long enough to get my stuff from my room."

She gently pulled my chin up and looked me in the eyes. "Please stay here," she said softly. "At least until your ankle has healed. I can't imagine a child like you living on her own."

I shook my head no. "I can't. I will be fine."

She sighed. "Please, Kaleigh," she pleaded. "It would break my heart to let you walk out of this house, knowing that you could be in harm's way."

"No need to beg, Esme," a bell-like voice said from the doorway. "I've already set up one of the guest rooms for her. I can't see her decisions, she's a blur like Nessie, but since our decisions all became much less clearer than normal I know she'll be with us for a long time." I guessed this to be Alice. She danced over to where we were and grabbed my hand, pulling me out of the room and down the hallway.

I struggled to keep up with her. I didn't want to put any weight on my ankle, but she was going too fast for me to keep up with her. I dropped her hand and settled for limping behind her as quickly as I could.

"You're going to love it here! I can't believe I've finally met someone like me." She stopped suddenly and I almost ran into her. "Well the opposite of me…. Hm…. I wonder if the werewolves affect you like they do me."

"Wolves?" I repeated.

She nodded, completely unfazed. "You'll get over the smell. You know….the smell might not even bother you. It doesn't bother Ness. Well, maybe the fact that she's dating one hides that."

"Love is blind," I said quietly.

She laughed. "Exactly!" She stopped in front of an open door and softly pushed me in. "So…..? Do you like it?"

I looked around at the bedroom in awe. The entire back wall was glass, and the floors were plush snow-white carpet. The walls were painted a deep red, and there were tiny white twinkle lights strewn all along the walls. A white comforter with black roses lay on a queen size bed.

"I added the twinkle lights for you," she said. "I wasn't sure, but I had a feeling you'd like them."  
>"This room is beautiful," I told her.<p>

She grinned. "Fantastic! Oh I'm so glad you're staying with us, Kaleigh."

I gave her a small smile. "Do you know where Mr—Carlisle is? I needed to talk to him."

She laughed at my slip up. "Don't worry. You'll be calling them Mom and Dad in no time," she assured. Then looking over her shoulder she sighed. "I'll let you two talk. As soon as you're feeling up to it we can go shopping, Kaleigh. Maybe Nessie will come."

Carlisle chuckled, shaking his head at the girl as she left the room. He set his golden eyes on me and smiled. "You wanted to talk with me?"


End file.
